This invention relates to a device for guiding and receiving letters at the exit of a mail-sorting machine.
As they are discharged from mail-sorting devices, letters are directed by different systems towards their receiving compartments. As a general rule, these compartments are each constituted by a moving horizontal platform on which the letters fall in order to form a stack. As the stack forms, so the platform moves down towards the bottom of the compartment. A restoring spring tends to maintain a constant pressure on the stack of letters which is sandwiched between the moving platform and a jogging roller.
Devices of this type are not suited to processing of letters of various sizes. Adjustment of the restoring spring is already a difficult operation within the scope of a small weight range but becomes impossible if the differences in weight are considerable. The letters located at the top of the stack are continuously in rubbing contact with the jogging roller. This results in relatively rapid wear of said roller as well as a risk of marking the letters. The complexity of these systems consequently introduces difficulties from the point of view of maintenance as well as high capital cost. Furthermore, the fact that the compartment has solid walls does not permit good visibility of letters and produces high noise levels.